Kingdomino Demo First Impression
Kingdomino has been a staple of the board game scene for almost eight or nine years now. That said, I'd never played it myself, or knew a single dang thing about it. I love board games as a concept, but don't often play them. Even in the rare occurrence where I have another person to play with, it takes an upfront investment of a pretty penny, time and space – all things I find in short supply. That said, this was one I was curious about, and when the option to check out the demo came my way, I was absolutely delighted. Finally I could experience the game myself.
Before diving in, I want to be upfront that this demo was a very limited look at the upcoming game. Kingdomnio is a game that takes about 10 to 15 minutes to play, and the demo was limited by only allowing me to play the tutorial and two games. Anything more will have to wait until I have the full game, which is set to release November 20th, 2025.
Kingdomino only takes a few minutes to pick up. I started off with a castle to place dominoes around. Each domino had two pieces of land on it.. There are six different tile types: wheat fields, grasslands, forests, lakes, swamps, and mines. Pieces are played to match one side of the domino with one of the tiles already in play. The idea was to make the biggest pieces of land I could using matching types. The bigger the piece of land the more points it was worth. Some land types appeared more frequently than others, and some of the pieces had multipliers on them making them worth more.
There's a catch though. There's always a catch. Rather than everyone taking a turn in a set manner the pieces players pick determine the turn order. The one who picks the domino with the lowest value gets to pick first on the next turn. Then the player who picked second lowest goes second, with the same logic applying to third and fourth. This keeps the player who goes first from having an advantage and also adds strategic depth that goes beyond trying to pick the highest point piece every turn.
How to play wisely, though, that is very much beyond me. This game is easy to pick up and hard to master. I played my two matches against the computer. The first game was neck and neck, while the second left me completely obliterated by my opponents. It was hard to be too upset though -- Kingdomino’s cozy atmosphere and bright, gorgeous graphics left me feeling chill.
Even though the demo is limited to two games, there's a bit of flexibility to how the games can be played. I could play between one to three other AI players in the single mode, play online, or even play a local game on my own PC.
I highly recommend to those who are interested to check out the demo themselves and see if the core gameplay clicks. Studio Meeple Corp is even offering prizes if the game ends up on enough wishlists. The store page seems to hint at there being much more than is in the demo. Multiple gameplay modes, a solo campaign, and even seasonal events and daily challenges are advertised. Really though, all of that is kinda extra. The fact is, if someone is looking for a digital option to play Kingdomino, I think this a serviceable choice that offers advantages over a physical version. You can wishlist it here!
